Lost in the Fire
by sax.and.violinz
Summary: Daphne Blake's baby brother was murdered, and she knows it. She and her friends are the rich teenage kids of Lima, Ohio. When they take a trip to Chicago for the night, they find out more than they wanted. This leads the group of friends to their first murder case. Fred/Daphne and mild Velma/Shaggy. Rated T for future chapters and language.
1. Chapter 1

You think it won't happen to you. The idea of losing your baby brother is unimaginable. The community pities you. Your friends try to comfort you the best they can, but seeing the small coffin at the front of the funeral is too much to handle.

My five year old brother, Alexander Parker Blake, was murdered. They couldn't prove it. The autopsy calls it an accident; my gut is telling me otherwise. My baby brother did not strangle himself to death. I just know it.

After the funeral, I return to my car. My parents insisted on riding with me, but I wanted to be with my friends. I wanted to get drunk on fun and forget the whole thing. Being the senator's daughter, there was not much I could do without having a reporter who was trying to catch my dad in some kind of scandal shoving a recorder in my face. Getting drunk was not an option, but getting high on adrenaline was.

Before I entered the local ice cream parlor, I changed in my car out of my somber black dress and into my white crop-top and purple watercolor skirt. My friends were sitting at a table, sucking down milkshakes in front of them. A girl with short brown hair and glasses stood up when she saw me and hugged me.

"Hey." She said softly. "How are you?"

She was my best friend, Velma Dinkley. I gratefully embraced her. "I'm pulling through," was all I said before joining them at the table.

Velma sat down next to a scruffy man with the happiest eyes you'll ever see. Norville Rogers is his name, but we call him Shaggy due to his unruly head of curls. Under the table hiding from the ice cream parlor manger was his Great Dane named Scooby. When I sat down, I felt him rest his head on my foot.

"Where's Freddy?" I asked.

"He's on his way. Football practice ran over apparently." Shaggy responded.

If I could pick one person to give my full trust to, it would be Fred Jones. He was my best friend since kindergarten. We grew up together; for two years we were separated because his father was relocated for the military, but he returned just in time to start high school.

When the waiter brought my milkshake to the table, the shop bell rang. My eyes looked up to see a tall, buff young man walking towards our table. That was Fred Jones. His hair was wet from showering after practice. I smiled a little when he sat down next to me in the booth. Naturally, his arm draped around my shoulders.

"Hey, guys." He said. "What are we doing tonight?"

Velma shrugged. "We can't decide. Glowstick swimming or drive all night?"

After thinking about the options, Fred looked down to me. "What do you wanna do? You're the one who needs some fun."

I smiled. "Why not both?"

Shaggy nodded. "Both is good. We'll buy a ton of glowsticks, fill up the van, and have at it."

"Where shall our destination be?" Velma asked, pushing her glasses up on her nose.

"We can ride out to Chicago for the night, stay in a hotel, and then come back tomorrow after doing stuff there." I offered,

"A four hour drive after swimming…" Fred mumbled. "Alright, we'll do that. Let's get moving then."

And with that, we all separated to our own cars. I drove home to pack my backpack with pajamas and an extra outfit for the next day. What I loved most about my friends is that they're down to do anything. Being the rich kids of Lima, Ohio had it's perks. When you're stuck in the most boring town in Ohio, you have to be brilliant to find something fun to do. I booked a hotel in Chicago in advance under my father's name. I shouldn't have offered to book the hotel, since I'm seventeen, and the legal age is eighteen. But my father has credits for hotels due to his constant traveling.

Just as I was about to change into my bathing suit, there was a knock on my balcony window. I smiled and opened the doors to the balcony. Fred was there, sitting on the banister. He had climbed his way up the tree next to the house like he had many times before to see me after curfew.

"Hello, Mr. Jones." I said before walking back into my room.

"Miss Blake." He responded.

"Any reason for this unexpected visit?"

Fred sat on the edge of my king sized bed. "No other reason than just wanting to be alone with you for a little while before tonight."

"I was about to change." I responded, turning to him.

The blond smiled at me. "You know I wouldn't mind that." He joked.

"Well, you know I would." I said before pushing him back into the puffy white comforter on my bed.

He chuckled softly and placed his hands behind his head, looking up at the ceiling. I went into the bathroom to put on my purple bikini and white coverup dress.

"Daphne Blake, I'm going to marry you one day." Fred told me when I returned to my bedroom.

"Is that so?" I replied while I searched for my flip flops.

"Yeah."

"You've been saying that since the fifth grade, yet you haven't tried to make any progress on that."

Fred watched me with his icy blue eyes. "I know, maybe we're not ready for that." He told me truthfully. "But I just have this gut feeling that we will be eventually."

"You don't know what you're talking about, Freddy."

"I do, too. Don't you get gut feelings?" He asked me.

For a moment I stopped searching for my shoes and held my breath. My brother flashed through my mind for a short moment before I agreed with him. Once I found my flip flops, I stood in front of Fred. His eyes lit up like diamonds in sunlight. His skin was tan and his hair was bleached from the summer sun. He was without a doubt the most handsome guy in school. That little boy face was gone, and he had grown into his chiseled face very quickly.

"You've never been wrong before," was all I said before bending my knees to kiss his forehead.

His grin was all I needed to feel happy again. Within a few moments, we were both headed downstairs to leave in his old, blue van to go to Shaggy's estate.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Story will pick up in next chapter. This is still exposition. :)

We arrived at Shaggy's estate around eight o'clock. Nighttime had already sunk in. The house wasn't much of a house at all. It was similar to mine, extravagant and colored white. It had almost an antebellum look to it.

Fred led me into the house, where we were soon met by a butler who led us to the pool. The pool didn't even have the lights on under the water. Instead, hundreds of multicolored glowsticks illuminated the general area. Shaggy's pool was a sand pool, slowly fading to the deep end.

"Wow, that's really cool." I admitted.

Fred pulled off his white t-shirt. "Very tumblresque." He responded.

The doors of the house opened. Shaggy and Scooby both trotted onto the brick floors. Immediately Scooby began sniffing my feet and jumped up to lick my face. That dog was almost as tall as me.

I giggled. "Hey, boy. Ready for tonight?" I asked.

Scooby barked in response before returning to his owner. Shaggy had taught his dog many, many tricks and commands. It was almost like the dog was completely human now.

My phone buzzed. I looked down to read the screen.

" _I'm gonna be late. Emergency project that is due Monday for APUSH. Will be there within the hour_." From Velma.

"Velma's gonna be late. She didn't do her history project." I announced.

Shaggy shrugged. "Well then let's start swimming." He said before jumping in.

Scooby pushed a float into the pool with his nose, and carefully stepped onto it. He floated out to the middle of the pool.

I was debating on whether or not to get completely wet. I spent a lot of time working on my makeup, and that's not just something you put to waste. Instead of getting in like the boys, I gracefully sat on the edge of the pool and kicked the water around with my feet. Fred and Shaggy were collecting glowsticks from the bottom and firing them at each other as if they were torpedoes.

My mind set back on my brother. The coroner told us that my brother had been abandoned at the playground, then proceeded to strangle himself to death with the swing set chains. It was a bizarre theory, but it happened. The chain marks from the swings were seared around his throat. The nanny had been fired for not keeping an eye on him.

I had read plenty of mystery novels and seen too many crime shows to just let this slide. Maybe it was because he was my baby brother. Or maybe it was because I knew that something was wrong.

Fred and I talked about it once, when the coroner's report came back. He held me while I cried. I kept telling him that this was wrong, that my brother was murdered. Fred hadn't said anything while I cried, fearing he would make matters worse by saying the wrong thing.

My train of thought crashed when someone splashed water at me. "Come on, Daph! I didn't buy these glowsticks for you to sit there." Shaggy said.

"I'm not in the mood for swimming." Was all I said.

The doors opened again to reveal Velma, not in her bathing suit but in her regular clothes. She looked slightly anxious. I stood up and walked over.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She took in a deep breath. "I was almost in a wreck, that's all. Nothing went wrong, just some guy who cut out in front of me."

"Alright…wanna join me by the poolside?"

"Yeah."

We sat down on the edge and watched the boys race each other to pick up all of a specific color of glowstick.

"Why aren't you getting in?" Velma asked.

I shrugged. "Makeup. I still wanna look okay for the trip. I'm especially proud of it today."

Velma nodded. Fred and Shaggy both swam over to the edge. "Why won't y'all get in?" Fred asked.

"Makeup."

"I just ate. Gotta wait thirty minutes."

"Well," Shaggy began, "we need to leave soon because Fred has to drive for four hours."

"And why can't you drive the rest of the way if Freddy gets tired?" I asked.

"Because I'm not going to do that." Shaggy replied with a half smile.

Velma and I both changed into our pajamas in one room while the boys dried off in the other. We met up at Fred's van, ready to embark on our next adventure. Shaggy, Scooby, and Velma slouched into the bean bags that were safely strapped in the back. I sat in the passenger seat next to Fred.

Absentmindedly, I grasped his rough hand. A gentle squeeze from his own hand brought me to realization. I didn't move my hand, but I blushed slightly by my own actions.

He looked to me before turning on the van. "Sleep." He told me softly.

"Okay." I whispered back before relaxing my shoulders and closing my eyes. Fred's hand did not release mine, and so I was able to sleep peacefully.


End file.
